Carbon, Energy and Climate

Keynote Speaker and Government Panelist

Dr. John P. Holdren is assistant to the President for Science and Technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Trained in aerospace engineering and theoretical plasma physics at MIT and Stanford, he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as a foreign member of the Royal Society of London and a former president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Prior to joining the Obama administration, he was a professor in both the Kennedy School of Government and the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard, as well as director of the Woods Hole Research Center.   

From 1973 to 1996 he was on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, where he co-founded and co-led the interdisciplinary graduate-degree program in energy and resources.

Bill Kurtis, A&E host, Producer and Narrator, "Cold Case Files" and "American Justice"

Panel Discussion Moderator

Bill Kurtis is a producer and often the host of A&E programming as well as the narrator of programs including Cold Case Files and American Justice. 

Formerly a reporter and anchorman on CBS2 News Chicago, he later moved to anchor the CBS Morning News. Mr. Kurtis has hosted and narrated numerous other series and mini-series including Inside Story and Investigative Reports. 

He started his own production company in 1990, Kurtis Productions, and produced programs for A&E Network. Mr. Kurtis has been recognized for his journalism and broadcasting with more than 20 Emmys to go along with numerous humanitarian awards. 

He has authored a number of books as well as contributed time and resources to countless non-profit and environmental organizations.

Academia Panelist

David Archer is a professor in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago and a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, publishing on Earth’s carbon cycle and its interaction with global climate.

Dr. Archer has written a series of outreach books on climate change, including Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast, a text for non-science major undergraduates; The Long Thaw: How Humans are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of Earth’s Climate; and The Global Carbon Cycle, a primer in climate science. 

He teaches classes on global warming, environmental chemistry, and global biogeochemical cycles, and is regular contributor to the climate science blog site realclimate.org

Carlos A. Cabrera, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Institute of Low Carbon and Clean Energy

Industry Panelist

Carlos A. Cabrera is President and CEO of the National Institute of Low Carbon and Clean Energy (NICE); based in Beijing, China.  Carlos also serves as a Distinguished Associate to the World Energy Consultancy Firm FACTS.Prior to his appointment as the first President and CEO of NICE he served as an advisor to the entities of the Government of China charged with developing the Mission and Vision of NICE.Prior to his recent appointments Carlos A. Cabrera retired after 35 years with UOP, a leading international supplier of process technology, catalysts, engineered systems, and technical and engineering services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical and gas processing industries. He served a number of positions culminating as Chairman.Mr. Cabrera has been granted seven patents by the U.S. Patent Office, is author of numerous publications and served on many industry panels as a worldwide recognized business and technical leader, including the Board of Directors of NPRA and the NPRA Petrochemical Committee. Mr. Cabrera serves on the Global Advisory Board of the University of the Chicago Booth School of Business. He received honorary ISA membership, the highest form of recognition bestowed by the Instrument Society of America; and has been inducted to the University of Kentucky Engineering Hall of Distinction.  Mr. Cabrera has a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Kentucky and a Master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago.

Adele Simmons, Vice Chair and Senior Executive, Chicago Metropolis 2020

Community Panelist

Adele Simmons is Vice-Chair of Chicago Metropolis 2020 where she focuses on climate change and early childhood education.  At Metropolis 2020 she is also providing leadership in the planning of the 2009 Burnham Plan Centennial, and serving as Vice Chair of the Burnham Centennial Committee.  She was co-chair of the Task Force that developed a Climate Action Plan for the city of Chicago for the mayor and is a member of the Green Ribbon Committee that oversees its implementation.  She served as a co-chair of the Council on Global Affairs study group on Chicago’s global future.  The Study Group’s Report, Global Edge was released in the fall of 2007.  Mrs. Simmons is President of the Global Philanthropy Partnership which promotes global giving and strengthens the infrastructure that assists global donors.  She edits a bi-monthly newsletter, Global Giving Matters with the Synergos Institute.  She is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Redesign Initiative.  From 1989-1999 Mrs. Simmons was President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, overseeing grants of over $1.5 billion.  She served on President Carter’s Commission on World Hunger and President Bush’s Commission on Sustainable Development and was a member of the Commission on Global Governance as well as the UN High Level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development.  Before joining the MacArthur Foundation, Simmons was President of Hampshire College, Dean of Students and Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University. Mrs. Simmons graduated from Harvard University and has a doctorate in African history from Oxford University.